From your perspective, what are the most important drivers of innovation in eye care?

Demand is rising, driven by aging populations and higher patient expectations. Against that backdrop, innovation must do two things: make it easier for surgeons to deliver great outcomes, and make the end-to-end process as efficient as possible.

How does Alcon approach innovation?

We see patients’ needs through the eyes of eye care professionals. They are at the center of how we invest in R&D, and our job is to earn their trust by turning feedback into reproducible clinical performance.

For example, in cataract, we keep pushing our limits to give more to surgeons and patients. Because it is the most performed surgery worldwide (1), and Alcon lenses are among the most widely implanted medical devices, innovation at scale matters. We approach innovation with the fundamentals: material platform evolution, optic design excellence, and manufacturing controls that support consistency lens to lens. From there, the focus is on advancing full range vision in ways that improve predictability, visual quality, and make true EDOF more meaningful in practice.

More broadly, we apply the same ecosystem thinking across the pathway – from diagnostics and planning to OR execution and follow-up – because innovation is not just about a product, but about a process designed for consistency, always within approved indications.

How do advances such as Alcon’s UNITY VCS (Vitreoretinal Cataract System) and UNITYY CS (Cataract System) contribute to the evolution of the ophthalmic operating room?

UNITY VCS and UNITY CS reflect a shift toward integrated OR platforms – built for surgeon control, standardization, and smoother team execution (2). When the OR is designed as a coherent workflow rather than a collection of separate tools, you can reduce handoffs, simplify set-up, and protect consistency case-to-case (3). And these technologies introduce a portfolio of innovative features designed to support predictable performance (4), stability, and procedural efficiency (1). 

With innovations such as the Valeda™ PBM (photobiomodulation) highlighting new therapeutic approaches beyond traditional surgery, how do you see the scope of ophthalmic innovation expanding?

In the case of Valeda™ PBM, innovation is expanding into intervention earlier in disease progression. Valeda is the first and only FDA-authorized treatment with CE mark clinically demonstrated to improve and maintain vision in patients affected by dry age‑related macular degeneration (AMD) (5). This is important because there are around 200 million patients impacted by dry AMD globally (6), and approximately 90% of all AMD patients are living with dry AMD (7). Having a proven technology like Valeda provides a new level of confidence to clinicians, in terms of their ability to effectively improve and maintain vision in patients affected by dry AMD at approximately two years (8).

Looking to the future, what role do you believe Alcon will play in shaping the next generation of ophthalmic care?

Our role is to help surgeons deliver more consistent outcomes at scale – by pairing an R&D engine with an operating model that makes innovation usable in the real world, so as to make advanced eye care more consistent, more connected, and to help more people see brilliantly.

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* Alcon medical device(s) comply with the current legislation for the medical devices. Please refer to relevant product’s instructions for Use for complete list of indications, contraindications, and warnings.